Walking elevator.



No.v 759,663. PATBNTED MAY 10, 190.4.

Y H. BRYANT.

WALKING BLEVATOR.

APPLIOATION FILED ma. 5. 1901.

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No. 759,663. I PATENTED- MAY 10, 1904.

H. BRYANT.

WALKING ELEVATUR.

u APPLIUATION FILED MAR. 1901. No MODEL. 4 smms-s11nm 2.

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No. 759,663 PATENTED MAY 10, 1904,

H. BRYANT. WALKING ELEVATOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 5. 1901.

NO MODEL. 4 SHEETS-SHBET 3.

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PATBNTED MAY 10, 1904.

H, BRYANT, WALKING BLB'VATOR. APLIUATION FILED IAB. 5. 1901.

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UNITED STATES Patented May 10, 1904.

HENRY BRYANT, OF FALMOUTH, MASSACHUSELTS.

WALKING ELEVATOB.

SPECIFICATION forming part of LettersiPatent No.y Y?59,6G3, dated May 10, 1904. Application flied March 54.1901. seria No. 49,695. (No model.)

To LU whom tmf/by con/cern:

Be it known that I, HENRY BRYANT, of Falmouth, in the county of Barnstable and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Valking Elevator, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying' drawings, in which-u Fig'ure 1 is an elevation of my elevator set up for use. Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic plan of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the preferred form of elevator. Figs. 4 and 5 are side elevations of Fig. 3.' Figs. 6 and 7 show the upper bail. Figs. 8 and 9 show the lower bail. Figs. 10 and 11 show the upper portions of the preferred form of shears. Figs. 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 illustrate the preferred form of elevator-bucket.

My invention relates to an elevator suspended from shears which Y are held in position by guys, so that by slacking' the propel' guys the legs of the shears may be successively changed, and thereby the elevator be walked along, as it were, to shift its position.

I have shown my invention in the drawings with the elevator in the form of abucket-ladder suspended from two sets of shears and in connection with sluice-boxes and a sump for placer-mining, the sump being emptied of gravel mixed with water by the bucket-ladder, which elevates and discharges the gravel mixed with water into a tail-race; but in practice the sluice-boxes at the start are used in the place shown in the drawings as occupied by the tail-race, and the buckets of the bucket-ladder excavate as well as elevate the gravel and discharge it mixed with water into the sluice-boxes, the tailings going directly from the sluicc-boxes to the dump; but after a pit of the desired size has been excavated the sluice-boxes are placed on bed-rock and a tail-race is put in place to carry the tailings to the dump. For those reasons a third set of shears is used, which may support the sluiceboxes at the beginning and the tail-race after the sluice-boxes are on bed-rock.

i In the drawings the elevator is a bucketby endless chains fzf, actuated through the sprocket-chains a by motor M, as will be clear from the drawings without further description and which need not be described in detail, as it is obvious that my invention is applicable to all forms of elevators or coni veyers regardless of any details of construction.

The upper shaft B of the bucket-ladder is carried by a frame which is suspended by a tackle from shears D D, and the lower shaft B' is carried by a frame b', which is suspended by a tackle Afrom shears 'D2 D3, so that the bucket-ladder may be suspended at any desired angle or lowered to rest upon the ground at will.

- I support the loaded buckets by trucks traveling on the upper members a2 of the boxtruss, and thereby take all sagging' strain from the chains which carry the loaded buckets. Each bucket F has two trunnionsff, the trunnion j extend-ing through a linkof the bucketchain f2 and the trunnion f through a link of the bucket-chain f3. These chains f f3 pass over wheelsflfi on the driven shaft B, which wheels impart motion to the chains f f3 andare provided each with a groove for the links which stand edgewise on its perlphery and provided also with recesses for the links which lie flatwise on their peripheries and with recesses for the trunnions j j". The idler wh eelsfj" on sha ft B may be wild-cat wheels;

but I prefer to use ordinary chain-sheaves, which are recessed for the trunnions. i The sprocket-shaft m, which carries the sprocket chains a", and the power of motor M is applied through chains a to the main shaft B.

The-shears are shown asconsisting each of two spars or legs D D, D2 D3, and DA1 D5, spars or legs D and D', D2 and D3, D'L and D5 being pivotally connected, as will be clear from Figs. l, 10, and l1, and each set of shears is provided with guys d, moving across the shears in one direction, and other guys (Z, moving across the shears in a direction transverse to that of guys (Z, so that by slacking some of the guys and tightening the opposite set the lower end of either spar may be lifted clear of the ground and moved to a new position, and in that way all the shears may be moved.

The elevator or conveyer is in practice first lowered to rest upon the ground; but vthis 'is simply to relieve the shears of its weight while moving them. I prefer to use only two spars for each set of shears; but it is obvious that each set of shears may consist of three spars, as a tripod, or of two pairs of spars, forming a four-legged set of shears, and while three or kfour spars in one set of shears reduces the strain on the guys, yet I prefer the two-legged set shown, as it saves time and labor in shifting the apparatus.

The frame 7), in which the shaft B is mounted, is supported by a well-known form of tackle, whose fall b2 passes through the block 3, and the fall is operated to raise and lower frame in the usual way. This is the most efiicient form of fall and tackle known tome; but of course any Ydesired form may be used. Frame U, in which shaft B isv mounted, is supported by a similar fall and tackle. Frame 7) is also provided with a socket 715, which receives an eyebolt f, connected to the receiving end of Vtail-race G by a hinge g, the-axis of eyebolt g being vertical, while the axis of the pintle of hinge g' is horizontal. This enables tail-race G to be swung horizontally on bolt g as an axis and its outer end to be raised and lowered on the axis of hinge g.

Each bucketF is made up of a sheet of metal /L bent into a U and of two sheets L, forming side pieces which are shaped to fit the bent edges of the piece L. These three sheets are secured together at their edges by rivets, and the rectangular finishing-piece if is riveted about the mouth of the bucket, and the trunnions ff are secured to the'side pieces 7L.

I prefer to make each trunnion, integral with its plate las and to rivet that plate to the sides of the bucket. In practice each trunnion and its plate is a casting of steel.

As each bucket passes about shaft B it is inverted by contact of its bottom with shaft B and is held inverted, so that it travels downward with its mouth down, being held in that position by guides if, and after each bucket has discharged its contents it swings into the position in Figs. l and 4. It is also necessary that each bucket should be inverted and held mouth down just before it passes shaft B and be held in position to scoop up the gravel and water while it is passing shaft BQ This is accomplished by the stops zf, which arrest the motion of the lower part of the bucket toward shaft B and compel each bucket as it travels toward shaft B to turn on its trunnions until it comes in contact with the guides A, which hold it in position to act as a scoop.

The operation is as follows: After the apparatus is set up the first step is to form a pit, and to do this the gravel is loosened and wa- Vter poured on 1t and the lower end of truss A adjusted to place. The chain of buckets is then started, and each bucket takes a load of gravel and water up the trussl A, the weight of the bucket and its load being sustained by the trucks of the bucket and the tracks on the truss and by the bucket-chains. As each bucket nears the top of the truss its 'lower part strikes shaft B and the bucket is capsized, emptying its contents in the sluice-boxes, which are then in place instead of the tailrace G--that is, at first the contents of the buckets are discharged into the sluice-boxes and pass from those boxes to' the dump. hile thus excavating the pit the elevator is moved as required until the bed-rock is reached by means of the tackles from which theelevator is'suspended.. It may happen that as the pit is deepened and widened the set of shears near the edge of the pit will sink.; but that is ofno consequence, as the guys are readily reset when necessary, and the tackles can at any time be operated to keep the elevatorin the desiredposition. Moreover, the position of the shears can always be `readily altered as occasion may require; but in practice it is not usual to move the shears through any great ydistance until after the pit is excavated to the size desired. Then the sluiceboxes and sump H are placed in the pit and the lower end of the elevator adjusted with relation to sump Hby moving the shears. The tail-race G and its supporting-shears are then brought into place, and the apparatus thereafter keeps the sump clear of the gravel which escapes from the sluice-boxes, the gravel from one wall of the pit being placed first in the sluice-boxes by the attendants and escaping from the sluice-boxes into the sump. The excess of water overflows from an escape-opening in the sump and is pumped off, as usual. When the excavation has become so large that the labor of carrying the gravel from the wall of the pit to the sluiceeboxes is too great, the whole apparatus is moved by moving the lower ends of the shears successively and changing the sluice-boxes to a new place nearer the wall of the pit, and this will of course change the tail-race so that the tailings will be dumped on the side instead of on the top of the dump.

. The extra guys rZZserve to steady the shears, and in practicethe elevator will also be steadied by guys between it and the legs of the shears, especially when the elevator is keeping the sump free from gravel.

IOO

IIO

ISO

What I claim as my invention is- 1. In combination an elevator; tWo pairs of legs, the legs of each pair being pivotally connected; a tackle suspending one end of the elevator from one pair of legs;asecond tackle suspending the other end of the elevator from the other pair of legs; and means for keeping the legs in position.

2. In an elevator the combination of an endless chain of buckets each bucket formed of a U-shaped sheet of metal, tWo side pieces ot' sheet metal, each with a curved liange and each fitting, and secured by its flange to the U-shaped sheet and a rectangular frame of metal secured about. the upper margins of the three sheets; two shafts supporting the chain of buckets; a support carrying both shafts; mechanism for moving the chain of buckets about the two shafts; means to invert the loaded buckets as they travel about one oi' the shafts and to hold them mouth down until the loads are discharged; and means to invert the empty buckets and hold them in position to alct as scoops as they travel about the other s ialt.

3. In an elevator the combination of a series of buckets, each with trunnions; an endless i chain of edgewise and iatwise links along one side oil the series of buckets with the trunnions on that side of the buckets passing each through an edgewise link of that chain; a second endless chain like the first and similarly arranged along the other side of the series of buckets; and a chain-Wheel Whose periphery is grooved to receive the edgewise links et the chains, recessed to receive the iiatwise links and also recessed to receive the trunnions.

4. In an elevator the combination of legs pivotally connected; ataekle depending from the pivot; the fall of the tackle; a frame connected with the fall; a shaft carried by the frame; an endless chain of buckets supported by that shaft; means to hold the legs in position and means to operate the tackle and raise and lovver the frame.

HENRY BRYANT.

Witnesses:

GEORGE A. ROCKWELL, C. B. MAYNADIER. 

